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Akron, Ft Meade, Aberdeen 1958-1959

 

AKRON (7 days), MEADE/DC (18 days), ABERDEEN FIRST DAY, December 24, 1958 to January 29, 1959

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24. Day days and I finish packing and kiss Bill goodbye for six months and get to work at 9:45. Scream for final test and it proves unsuccessful. I leave at 11:30, get up to kiss Julian goodbye and pay him final installment on debt, then up to meet Frank and move stuff to new apartment with his help. Alice says everything's OK and I pat Frank goodbye and race to work at 1:15. Gobble a morsel of lunch from the SBC party, saying goodbye, write instructions to successor and grab a cab at 2:30, getting to bus terminal at 3 and Newark airport at 4. Settle down for a grand flight into the cloudy sunset until 6 and land in snow-covered Canton and take limousine to my door. Eat supper and unpack presents and fall asleep before Midnight Mass in modernized St. Johns. Afterwards we unwrap gifts and I get to bed at 2:30.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25. Up at noon and skip breakfast and over to Grandma's to unwrap more toiletries and eat for an hour and talk to Cesira for 2. Downstairs for supper and playing with Greg and Gary and then Larry and Dave come over to talk and everyone leaves while we watch City Center's "Nutcracker" on TV. Larry drives me to drive-in and home, and I sleep at 1.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26. Up at noon again and out Christmas shopping after brunch. Get gifts and bottles and meet Larry to see "Tom Thumb" in the afternoon. Up to Newman Club for awhile and then home for a quick supper, then over to Marion's for more playing and idolizing by Greg and Gary, leaving at 9:30 for the "Buccaneers," a disappointing, crotchy show, again with Larry and Dave. Off to Manner's and get Larry's gift and home at 12 again, and again up at noon.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27. Spend time talking to everyone on telephone for hours, eat lunch, talk to Danny on way to get a haircut, then afterwards see John and pregnant Dot, I get busy with this project for about an hour and then bathe and dress and bus downtown, supperless, for meeting Bob and get to Cesira's for unwanted date of grinding boredom. Go to Olga's for dinner and dipping and cards and eating, then off to Allan Vaughan's for the Phi Sigma house party. Everyone around is weird in some or another way and drinks flow and talk blows and people glow and Ron makes all odd statements about the people he knows at Fort Meade and suggests we have a New Year's party together. We leave at 2:30 and Bob drives me and Cesira home, where I fall dizzily into bed at 3:30.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28. Up at 11:30 for a hearty breakfast and Mass, then back to the papers and finally get caught up with this mess at 2:30. Now I've gotten even with it. YEAH! Much of time taken up with such things as making telephone calls, writing letters to New York, finishing the business I should have finished when I was there, packing and sorting things out, finding orders, letters and insignia, and miscellaneous things of that sort. Don comes over for supper and then Danny visits, then he leaves and Henry and Grandma and Greg and Gary take over. I phone Larry and Dave to go out, but they work, so I get to bed early, to save up for the coming week.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 29. Up early and read with Rita until 3, when I go downtown to buy slacks and stamps and stripes and give Dave his present. Back home to type out orders and finish packing and hunt for IBM letter until 11, when I get to sleep for last time in my house.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30. Up at 4:30 for a quick shower and limousine out to Akron-Canton airport at 6, only to eat breakfast and read until 9:30 when my plane finally takes off into the fog. Good connections in Pittsburg leave me in Washington at 2 and alone in limo to bus station and get to Meade at 4:30, getting ride to Provost Marshall and then cabbing to Post HQ and get assigned a temporary BOQ, sign in, and find where to go next morning.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31. Up and unpack, then skip breakfast to be on time for another Post Hq building, which ends up only for permanent BOQ. They refer me around corner, where sergeant hustles me over to the 2nd Army Hq in a car, and I get referred to a fifth building. They send me up the street, and I get sent downstairs when they've heard of Student Detachment, and upstairs to get referred to Lt. Gross in next wing, who isn't there, but the sergeant shows me a letter I didn't get, sent on the 18th to John Jay, saying I shouldn't travel. Lt. Gross says I must wait till 18th to go to Aberdeen, that I can stay in temporary BOQ and that I can eat in investigate-MRU unit. Breakfast at 10:30, lunch at 3:30 and then into Washington, with Laird's names. Wander around for a couple hours, finally get Frank and eat supper in Redskin Lounge, staying until 9, then to Metropole for a half hour of gay gals, then to California Kitchen for snack and meet Frank Kameny. Into Derby room for a mass of bores, then at 11:30 to DeSardo's, alias Chicken Hut, for a raucous greeting of the New Year with cries of delight and kisses and squeezes. Try a few, but went to a party at 1217 L Street at 2 am to end night.

1959

THURSDAY, JANUARY 1. New Year's comes in with a flourish at DeSando's, alias the Chicken Hut, in Washington, DC. I wander up and down aisles to both my delight and my partner's amazement, whoever it might, at the moment, be. Try to get a few dates, but resort to a party at 1217 L Street at 2 am to end night. Wander through house, looking sadly at taken good-looking ones persons, marveling at girls, and getting dragged by Bob into side room, then onto sofa for two hours at 4, when everyone leaves, almost. No busses to Meade, so I phone Frank to get to sleep at 7:30.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2. Wake at 2:30 and lay till 5, shower, talk to Jerry and get to 1217 at 7:30 for Bob, but still no show at 9:30, so I take a hint and leave for Metropole for awhile, and in a driving rain to the Hut. Cal sits at 10 and talks at 10:15, and we leave at 12 to Jack's apt, where we play until 3, sleep until 10, and then go at it again until 2, with things getting cozy and chummy and whatever. He drives me to bus station, where I grab lunch and bus to Meade, at NSA. Was bus to Meade and get in at 5:30. Get exceedingly hungry and try main PX, closed, and take off for a circumnavigation of camp, ending up in Boontown for two burgers and an egg sandwich, in accompaniment of a mad sergeant on the slot machine, a crazy corporal on the pinball machine, a giggly husband and a quiet, teary-eyed barmaid wife. Pleasantly full, I get back to BOQ at 11:30.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3. Fall into bed, hoping to get up at 6:30, which I do, to dress and pack and eat a truly marvelous breakfast and get into Washington at 10:30. Archives, lecture in the National Gallery till 12, when I call Cal and meet him at 1. Gardens closed, so he drives me out to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where we tour unfinished building and see Catholic University. Drive over to Georgetown and see more sights, then out to try Arlington Cemetery, but it's closed. Back to drink and he took me downtown, where I catch supper and end up in Hut again, where I talk to young doll from Baltimore, but I have no place to offer him, and he doesn't want to come to Terry's party, where Frank drives me (on Les's lap, sigh) to 12, which I leave, after not touching Les, at 1:30. Set off across NW Washington, gasping at size of Shoreham and Rock Creek estates. Crawl through woods and get to apartment on 41st St. at 2:30.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 4. Get to bed and awaken again at 4 by Cal. We go at it till 5 and fall asleep until 11. I skip shaving and he drives me out to good breakfast and Arlington Cemetery and drops me at National Art Gallery, where I explore rooms 1-30 and get to concert in Garden Court at 8-9:30. Wander up to Metropole and get cruised nicely until 12, when I get to kitchen. Back to Trailways at 2 to catch the 2:15 to Meade.

MONDAY, JANUARY 5. Very tired back to camp, and flop into bed until noon. Up for lunch and then over to meet Mr. O'Rourke and talk about IBM. I get out to try shopping at the PX, made hard by the fact that I have very little money. Find that Ft. Meade has a General Delivery and write Bill a letter while my breath hangs in front of my face as I type. Horridly cold and I crawl into bed and finish "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog" and get down, after supper, to a showing of "Some Came Running," which, by Army reaction tests, should be one of the best films of the year. Get back to freezing room after reading paper about 3 degree temperatures at library. Nothing to do but get to bed with socks on and three blankets and two overcoats.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 6. Too cold to get up for breakfast in the morning, and it's noon when I finally get out of bed to put on TV to see what time it is after I messed up my watch at 6 am. To lunch and back to more temperate room to write letters (feet enclosed in overcoat) to Larry, Frank, Cesira, Laird, Ted, Alice and Bob. By this time it's time for supper and I get down to library to bribe myself into a library card to get out a Philosophy book. See "Damn Yankees" for second time and enjoy it more than anyone. Back to cuddle down in bed and take notes on Erasmus' "In Praise of Folly" and Galileo's "Dialogues concerning two new sciences." Put book down at 11 and fall asleep, fairly warm for a change.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7. Finally get up in time for breakfast and spend a very boring day reading Francis Bacon's "Novum Organum" and Descartes' "Rules for the Direction of the Understanding" and "Meditation on First Philosophy." Sorting out my drawers takes most of the rest of the day, and then I go down to supper again. This Officer's mess will be the death of me yet. The Army produces men with soul-stirring pleading in their eyes, and longing on their faces that almost anyone would find very difficult to resist. I plow through supper staring at these beautiful appealing faces, and have the distinct feeling that this might be a rough six months. Supper over I meet Mr. Parker at 6:45 and journey to Baltimore, to meet Sgt. Slaughter, who promises me a post in an IBM unit in Aberdeen. With an hour to kill, I wander down to Gay Street and find the Pepper Hill immediately. Have a beer and look at the perfume and rubber dispenser in the john. Back to IBM and ride back to Meade.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 8. Get to bed and get up in time to catch the 8:15 to Washington. Tour the White House and then the Treasury, then down to the Bureau of Printing for $$$, then the Freer Gallery and the National Museum until 5. Get ticket to "Redhead" and borrow Frank's binoculars and keys, then down to stand in line and stand in rear of theater for Gwen Verdon in a Waxworks-Cinema fantasy which will be a hit. Get to the Hut and talk to Gino, then bus up to Frank's, who is startled I didn't bring anyone. Talk till 4:30.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 9. I get up at 11 and get downtown again, this time to nonexistent NAS, FBI at Justice Dept, IBM Vanguard setup, Folger Shakespeare Museum and the Library of Congress. Stop off at Union Station and catch bus up to New Staunton to see "The Kid" with Chaplin and Coogan and "The Soldier," hilariously Chaplin. Bus back down and eat at Gamecock and back to Hut, where I talk to Finan and Ken and again get to Frank's alone.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10. Up at 11:30 and shower and call Cal at 12:30. He picks me up at 1, to find Frank nude in bed on phone. We talk for awhile (Jack's in hospital with pneumonia, so I have free run of 41st St. apt) then leave at 2, for dinner (my breakfast) at Toddle House, then back to apt at 5 for a bit of TV and talk. He has to get to Steve's but drops in with me for a drink at Hut, and leaves at 11. I manage to get safely out at 12 and meet Frank in Kitchen to pick up my bag and take bus out to 41st. Watch "Odd Man Out" with James Mason, until 2, and fall asleep for an hour, to be roused by Cal entering at 4. We cuddle for awhile and get to sleep.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11. Up at 10 to breakfast tastily on toasted Danish with piles of butter and coffee and milk. I read bit of "Unnameable" by Samuel Beckett while he talks on phone and fixes place up. We watch TV intermittently and cuddle in bed, me coming twice and him twice, too. Lunch of a ham-cheese sandwich and milk. At 7:30 Cal goes off to visit Jack in hospital and takes me downtown, leaving me keys, saying he'll call and be back in AM, before class. I get to Hut and meet Jack, who has me swooning. We go to Kitchen to try to see Frank, and even though he doesn't answer phone I drag Jack to 18th. Then we're over to 41st to get Cal's call and then call Frank back and go back over there, me feeling headachy from too little food, too much sex and driving.

MONDAY, JANUARY 12. Get there at 2 and have a completely unforgettable session until 4:30, when I cab over to 41st, to find Cal in bed and mad. He leaves and I get up at 10 and get call to say be out by 1. I do so and plan to stay in town, but call Jack and he refuses to sex during weekdays, so I eat lunch and tramp back up to bus station for the 2:15 back to Meade. Get $150 and letters telling of Kovan's staying in apt. Call him and get kicked in ass and go to library and see "Separate Tables," a star-studded flop. Call Mom and get bawled out and tell her to send me all-important paper by Kovan. To bed rather worried.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13. Mess up time in AM and miss breakfast, but get up in time to start an epic to Bill and get lunch. Spend day buying uniform parts, taking things to laundry, writing Bill, reading letters, washing socks, buying stationery and this book and calling at PO for no mail. Back to supper and the end of "Sins of Jezebel" and race out to "Sheriff of Fractured Jaw," a clever comedy and back here to run through three, count them three, pens getting this down from January 1-13. Leave room in complete mess and finish this to get to bed at 10:30, in deference to sleeping fellow in next room. Darn.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14. Wake up at 6 and toss until 7, when I dress and go to officer's mess for breakfast. Back at 8, undress and back in bed until 11. This is the life. Then up and continue with my epic to Bill, calling PO to find no mail for me. Get down to lunch at 12:30 and back to put room to rights, sorting things out and tossing things away. Back to letters until I walk down to PO to again find no letters, mail the ones I'd written and walk back up to Mess, hoping to walk food down to leave me room for supper. All eat and no work makes for a fat stomach. Supper and back to Library for Wagner and Photo Annuals, then to "Rally Round the Flag, Boys" at 8. Back to room and to bed at 10:30.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15. Up again for breakfast and spend most of morning finding out how I go about checking out of BOQ. Walk back to barracks for lunch and then start packing. Back down to PX to buy stuff and return library book and assorted tours of duty, doing four (meals left), three (trips to Main Post), two (trips back from Main Post, one (trip away from Fort Meade), zero (trips back to Fort Meade) through 33210, 32210, 32110, 22110, 21110, 1110, 110, and 10 and 0 throughout night. Packing very labored and detailed, with overnight bag, weekend bag, and permanent duffel. Supper and work and finally to bed at 11 pm, hoping to get up in time for 7:30 cab.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 16. Up real early for shaving and such, then breakfast and cab to sign out and hitchhike to cab stand for a fifteen minute wait for a bus and my last sight of Fort Meade. Get into Washington at 9:30 and check everything. Raining as I walk down to Smithsonian to tour Air Building and Building of Arts and Sciences and Smithson's Building until 2 when I go to "Christian" Serviceman's Club for sandwich and coffee and cookies. Back to National Gallery of Art until 5 and buy ticket for "Juno" premiere at National. Repeated calling of Frank produces nothing, and I phone USO for good things to do, finally grabbing cab (after pork chop supper) to neat theater for end of "NYNY" and "The Horse's Mouth" and reading New Yorker for second showing of "NYNY." Back down to the Hut and cruise many people and get cruised by more, until finally Bill tells Jim of my plight and Jim offers me his spare bed. Bill and friends make bed, after we talk, and then Jim and I talk longer until I offer myself to him. We lie together and he rubs himself off while I stay relatively limp, but I like him. Back to bed.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17. Next noon finds the four of us eating breakfast. The two leave and I end up washing many dishes, offering opinions on Bill and liking Jim quite a lot. We talk and talk and calls to Bill and Nita and Vesta produces a hectic evening, which starts with beef stroganoff supper after a nap, then a trip to "Juno," next to heavy cruiser, and a good play. Grab cab at 11:30 pm and rush to palatial Park-Sheraton for Alabama dance, where Vesta and I take turns bending ears and Nita and Jim exchange compliments. They're disposed of at 1, and we go back to 16th to pick up a sleeping Bill and out to Alexandria for a wild party in a private home, Dave very agreeable and with Jim and friend home after interesting gathering.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 18. Back at 5:30 and fall asleep entwined, getting up at 10. We again try sex and he rubs and I come handlessly close, but I don't and we stop to analyze. Get an assortment of revealing insights into Jim and an amazing flash of understanding of my own limpness when things reach a crisis. Up for brunch and dishes and over to apartment for a dance session that turns into a series of jitterbug lessons, wherein I am deeply flattered not once but many times. Out at 7 to talk even more, until 10, when I call Frank and arrange to meet him. I have lonely time at Hut when he doesn't show, and meet Frank and get back to 16th Street at 1, to again get talked to by Jim, getting to sleep about 3 am. Alarm rings at 5:15 am and I hurriedly pack and eat his breakfast and leave at 6:10.

MONDAY, JANUARY 19. Grab cab to bus station and ride to Aberdeen. Get ride into APG and get referred around, until I sign in at BOMOP at 9 am. Enter barracks and meet people and talk and draw supplies and get to orientation at 3 pm to meet Lt. Cox. Out to mess and unpack, vaguely, meeting everyone and writing letters far into the night. Evening cut short by orientation by Capt. Worrel from 6 to 8:30, which stops any trips anywhere.